Five Canadian business stories to watch this week

The bottom line: Corporate earnings to take note of this week include Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Quebecor, Canadian Tire, Manulife and Sun Life. In Ottawa, Kinaxis, Espial, Quarterhill and Calian all report their quarterly results.

Sparking power and controversy: Hydro One will release its second-quarter results Tuesday. It's the company's first earnings report since it bought U.S. utility Avista Corp. for C$6.7 billion last month. The takeover has been controversial, as it would see Hydro One assume ownership of a coal-burning plant in Montana after Ontario weaned itself off the fuel.

Let's make a deal: The Ontario Securities Commission will hold a hearing Wednesday to decide whether to approve a settlement with Home Capital. In June, the mortgage lender struck a $11-million agreement to settle its case with the OSC involving allegations of misleading disclosure about falsified information on loan applications.

Seeking direction: Aimia is set to release its second-quarter results Wednesday after markets close with a conference call the next day. Investors and analysts will be looking for answers after a bruising few months during which Air Canada announced it was not renewing its Aeroplan contract with the marketing firm. It has lost 80 per cent of share value since.

The economic docket: There's not a lot of economic data to push the needle this week, but for the junkies there's building permits and housing starts on Wednesday followed by the new housing price index Thursday.